Kingdom Hearts: A Delayed Heart
by Legojunkie
Summary: The Heartless get delayed and arrive at Destiny Islands a day late. With this, the tides of fate have changed, as Sora, Kairi, and Riku awaken in Traverse Town together.
1. Prologue

Before I begin, I would like to clarify a few things.

1\. All my other stories are on hold as I try to figure out an actual plan for them or if I even can find a way to continue them.

2\. I'm writing this over on Spacebattles with the help of Stewart92, whose A Skittering Heart indirectly inspired this. If you are a fan of Worm and Kingdom Hearts I recommend it.

* * *

Kingdom Hearts

A Day Later

The sun beat down on Sora's face as he looked behind them, the Island, his home for most of life was gone, the tips of the lush green trees sinking below the horizon. "Well, the island is finally out of sight. I can't believe we're finally on our way. I was nervous in case the raft blew away or something last night." he said, his grin stretching as the wind blew in to the white sail.

Riku laughed from his place by the rear of the raft, his firm grip on a single oar. He looked at peace, more relaxed than he had in a long time Sora thought.

"Yeah, nothing but smooth sailing and new worlds ahead." he said, his tone leaking excitement as he stood up to gaze forwards into the distance. Kairi giggled as she looked at them both.

"I wonder where we'll end up?" She said amused at their grins. Sora shrugged.

"Anyway, everywhere! I want to see it all!" He said slightly jumping, making the raft wobbled. Riku pushed him down with a roll of his eyes.

"Somewhere with food, besides fish and coconuts hopefully."

Kairi hummed and agreed, her eyes sparkling in a sly glow.

"Alright guys, lunchtime! We've got fish jerky and coconut milk."

Groans came from both boys as she laughed. Which caused Riku and Sora to look at each other and smile before they reached for their share.

As the trio dug in, the sound of their laughter rang out over the water.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This happy attitude was not shared by another group of travelers as they were returning to their ship.

"Uh, Donald, are you sure we should be leaving?"

"We looked all over this town, Goofy, and found no trace of the "Key." Leon and his friends can stay and keep an eye out; we need to find the King."

"Okay, Donald. I just hope we-Look! A star's going out!"

"This is bad...Hurry! We got to find that Key!"

"Wait for me Donald!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Smooth sailing, Riku? Talk about jinxing." Sora said with a grunt as a gust of wind hit them.

"Shut up Sora, and get that sail tied down!" Riku snapped as he struggled to hold on to a rope. Kairi held on to the supplies as best she could, but the rocking raft was making her grip loose.

The three friends were deciding who would have first shift on night watch when a dark storm appeared out of nowhere. Now the trio was desperately trying to keep the raft afloat.

"Guys, quit fighting. We need to-Look out!" Kairi screamed.

A giant wave loomed over their tiny raft. Sora barely had enough time to grab his friends and dive before it smashed the raft to pieces.

Sora felt like he was trapped. The water was black and felt oily, he couldn't breath, he couldn't move. He felt Kairi struggle as he and Riku tried to paddle upwards, but the darkness seemed to close around them. Riku let go of Kairi's hand and slapped at the darkness like a caged animal, his eyes desperate.

Sora felt Kairi begin to sink faster than him, he didn't let go, even when she started to drag him under. He swam with everything bit of strength left.

Reaching out in panic, he felt his hand grasp something.

And there was light.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sore felt like he was dreaming. Everything was so surreal and hazy.

"Squall! Come here, I think I found the Keyblade wielder!" A voice shouted.

Sora's eyes fluttered closed as he heard the man say one last thing.

"Kids? Well, beggars can't be choosers I guess. Come on, let's get them inside. We need to hide them fast."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Urrgh."

Sora groaned as a beam of light shown through the window on his face, waking him up. Comfortable, he tried to bury his face in the pillows. _…Wait…we didn't bring pillows on the raft, did we?_

 _The raft..._

 _The storm!_

"Riku! Kairi!" Sora said as he shot up out of bed, his body tumbling from the soft mattress, quickly standing, his eyes scanned the room for his friends, his mind calming after spotting them in a pair of neighboring beds. Asleep, like he had been.

Sora tried to go over to them, but his legs were tangled in the sheets and he crashed onto the floor with a loud groan, the commotion causing the others to stir.

"…Wha? Sora? What did you-where are we?" Riku asked as he noticed the unfamiliar room they were in, his features going from confused to guarded in seconds. Kairi, slowly pulled herself from the sheets, far more graceful than Sora's exit.

"Beats me, the last thing I remember is being underwater during that crazy storm, then I woke up... here, where ever this is." Sora replied as he began to take in the room as he got back up.

Kairi looked thoughtful for a moment, "Maybe someone saved us and brought us here to recover?" she said, a finger to her chin as she wandered close to a painting on the wall.

Riku nodded, "That would be my guess. No chains, no locks and no guards means we're not prisoners, or our kidnappers need practice. Come on, let's see if anyone's around." he said, pointing to an old wooden staircase

With silent nods, Sora and Kairi followed Riku, who had taken the lead, downstairs, into a room that looked like it was being renovated. Large boxes lined one side of the room, sheets covering odd furniture and desks on the other.

"Oh, you're up!" Startled, the trio whirled around to see a young woman with black hair and a mischievous smirk back from at the top of the stairs where they just came. The woman had appeared when they're had only been one entrance in and out.

"Who are you?" Riku demanded sharply. Yuffie waved him off as she walked past them on the stairs.

"I am the Great Ninja, Yuffie." The woman proclaimed before turning her head to a nearby door, "Hey Squall, Aerith. Our guests are awake." she shouted cheerfully.

"It's Leon." stated a serious looking man with a scar across his face as he walked in, Sora stared unabashed at the scar until Kairi nudged him, he rubbed the back of head with a grin.

"I was wondering when you guys would wake up, I suppose you want to know what happened, right? What do you remember?" he asked, no emotion in his voice. Riku stepped forward and was about to answer, but Sora beat him to it.

"We were on our raft, trying to sail to a new world when a freaky storm hit. A giant wave smashed our raft and we were pulled underwater." Sora answered, scratching his head as he thought back to the storm's sudden appearance.

Yuffie smiled, "Well, congratulations. You made it to one. Welcome to Traverse Town, Unfortunately, you won't be able to go back." she said apologetically as she sat on a table.

"What!?"

"Are you serious?"

"How can that be?"

The trio said at the same time.

"Yuffie." Scolded a young woman with brown hair wearing a pink dress before she addressed the islanders, "That storm you were caught in was caused by creatures known as Heartless…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So what you're saying is that our world, our family and friends, were consumed by living embodiments of the darkness in people's heart, and that we got lucky. Oh, and Sora is apparently the wielder of a legendary weapon that is the only way of stopping these Heartless?" Riku asked, his tone reaching new levels of incredulity at each word.

"Yep. That's it exactly." Yuffie cheerfully replied.

Riku began rubbing his temples, "…Well, this is great."

"Well, look at it this way Riku, we made it to another world." Sora weakly grinned at his friend.

"And our world is apparently gone, Sora." Riku snapped back. Sora took a step back, before his face puffed up and he opened his mouth to argue.

"Guys, calm down. Fighting isn't going to help anyone." The pair stopped as Kairi stepped between them, they shot looks at each other, promising this would continue later, Kairi turned to Yuffie.

"Is there anything that can be done to restore our world?" she asked, her voice carrying a touch of pleading. Yuffie looked at Leon, who shrugged, and then nodded at Aerith. Aerith, a woman who made all three of the Destiny Island inhabitants feel completely at ease, her manner and person seem to emit a mysterious, but trusting aura.

"Well, if anyone knew it would be Ansem. He was studying the Heartless, and compiled a very detailed report. Unfortunately, his world was one of the first to be consumed. Ansem hasn't been seen since, and his report was scattered across the worlds." Aerith explained.

Seeing the trio's downcast faces, Yuffie spoke up, "It's not completely hopeless. A King named Mickey is believed to be searching for the reports. If he finds them, maybe you can find a way to restore the lost worlds."

"And speaking of the King, he assigned a pair named Donald and Goofy to look for you, or at least the Keyblade. They actually left to search another world not long before you arrived. Once they get back you can probably go with them. Try to find a way to stop the Heartless." Leon added.

"Well, when will they get back?" Sora asked, excitement at hearing new worlds perking his posture up.

"In a week or so, they planned to search a world or two and then come back to see if the Keyblade turned up here." Aerith answered.

"Which means," Leon stated as he moved from his position against the wall, "We have one week to make sure you're ready to fight and there's plenty to practice on right here in Traverse Town."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Gah!" Sora grunted as he hit the ground again with a roll.

After learning Sora and Riku's combat experience was limited to spars against each other and other kids with sticks and that Kairi was one of the few that hadn't participated at all, Leon had seemed even more irritated than he originally appeared.

He passed Kairi off to Aerith, his reason that he didn't have time for the absolute basics, before leading the two boys to an underground waterway. Once there he passed them a pair of practice weapons and attacked. Neither of the boys lasted very long, even when they started really working together, though Sora begrudgingly acknowledged that Riku did usually last longer than he did.

The sessions never lasted long, the odd effect of, no matter what weapon Sora picked up, if he got too absorbed into the fight, his Keyblade flashed in and replaced it, usually forcing Sora to drop his practice weapon

This particular session, It only took a few more strikes and Riku was disarmed, but instead of returning their weapons and continuing, Leon put aside his weapon, "You two are going to need a lot of work. But it's late, and Aerith and Yuffie should be finishing up with your friend."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, Leon took them to the First District with Riku and Kairi to get them a sword and quarterstaff. Unlike Sora, they didn't have the luxury of not getting use to not carrying a weapon at all times.

Once they got back, Leon began to drill the boys on how to properly wield a sword while Kairi continued to learn how to use a staff with Aerith. The woman was determined to drive Kairi to excel in leaps and bounds, the two seemed to be the perfect master and student. They also encountered their first Heartless when Sora was practicing with his Keyblade properly, to see the difference between it and his practice blade.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ah, I see I was correct when I thought that the 'Key' had arrived while I was gone." Sora almost choked on his breakfast when a puff of smoke suddenly poofed into existence and then dispersed, revealing an elderly man with a long white beard and blue robes.

Aerith clapped her hands together and smiled, "Ah, Merlin. You're just in time. I was planning to see if they could use magic today."

"No need to worry about that my dear, I'll have them casting like they were born to do it in no time." Merlin chuckled, then he opened his bag and things began to happen.

Sora would always remember today as the day Riku got into a fight with a sugar bowl and lost.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Well, that's the last of them. For now at least." Riku stated as he watched the last Heartless vanish a plume of darkness, frowning at the lack of heart being freed. Absently he picked up the crystal shard left behind by the Heartless Soldier, it glimmered in his palm with an ethereal glow. The Moogles were always happy when people brought them, promising to help them out big time when their shop was set up.

"Alright, we've scoured all three districts now, and there is no sign of that 'Keyhole' Leon and the others told us about." Riku said as he sheathed his sword and looked about the empty street, his eyes darting from shadow to shadow. Kairi leaned in and examined his face with a smile.

"You're getting better at that sword, you only got knocked about a little this time, but it's getting late, too. We should probably head back to the house." Kairi added, her eyes staring up at the eternal starry sky above. Sora followed her gaze and squinted.

"How can you tell?" he asked. Kairi giggled and began to walk away.

"There's a clock over there in the shop."

Sora looked and then at her, grinning.

"If you're so good at spotting things, maybe you can find the Keyhole? I really wanted to find it today." his face fell at the reminder. Riku sighed, his own disappointment evident.

"Well, what do you expect? I'm sure that if it was easy to find the others would have already found it by now." Riku said, half mocking, half comforting the other boy. Sora listened and nodded, his face thoughtful.

"Yeah, I guess. I just thought that maybe the Keyblade would have done something to reveal it I guess." Sora replied, bring the weapon to eye level as it laid docile in his grip. Riku nodded in agreement, his eyes lingering on the blade, expecting it to suddenly burst into action. He was disappointed when it just lay there in Sora's grip.

The three young teens walked back to the First District where they split up, with promise of meeting up for dinner later. Kairi went to go stock up on potions and ethers, her mischievous smile making her fast friends with a trio of ducks, who surprisingly ran the local store. Riku was going to drop the materials they had collected with the Moogles, their stories of other worlds naturally had him sitting there for hours listening to everything that they talked about over the forge fire, and Sora visiting Cid, for the lack of anything better to do, the older man's grouchy face took on a shine when he saw Sora, the two had fast become friends over a very simple hobby.

Space ships.

"So, no luck huh? Can't say I'm surprised. Leon and Yuffie have tried to find that darn Keyhole for ages." Cid said, as he wiped the same spot for the last few minutes with a rag.

"I wouldn't feel so bad, kid, you've only just started to look. From what the old bag of a wizard said, they can be found almost anywhere on a world, mostly important places, symbols and what have you."

"I know." Sora sighed. Before he could continue, he was interrupted by the sound of a bell. It rang crystal clear through the district.

"Huh, that's odd." Cid grumbled, his eyes focused on a window.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked and ran to the window to see what he was looking at.

"I think that's the first time I've ever heard that bell ring since I got here. I think there's supposed to be some kind of local legend, if you call three districts local, about something happening if the bell rings three times. Anyway, if nothing else, that seems pretty symbol-ly to me. I think Leon looked into it, but he didn't get too far, the second district is practically the worst when it comes to them blasted Heartless." he said, and Sora nodded before walking out with Cid's words in his mind.

Sora walked out of Cid's shop with a thoughtful look on his face. He was dragged out of his thoughts when a hand grabbed him by the shoulder. With a start he turned and saw Riku smirking and Kairi with hand to her mouth

"Hey, don't go overloading your brain with all that thinking." Riku said with a teasing grin. Sora put his hands on his hips and glared.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny. Did you guys here the bell earlier?" Sora asked, his attention wandering to the second district's door.

"The one in the Second District? Yeah, the boys in the shop said they had never heard it ring before, why?" Kairi replied, her face turning curious.

"Cid mentioned something's supposed to happen when the bells rung three times. I was thinking about checking it out." Sora said with a smile, it was just like being back on Destiny Island, exploring the cave.

"It's just a bell Sora, but considering we have nothing better to do, why not? If nothing else, we can cross it off the list." Riku agreed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright, we're at the bell tower, now what?" Riku asked after they reached the top of the bell tower, the ladder rattle dangerously as Kairi pulled herself over the edge. Sora looked around at the open roof and wandered about.

"Well, Cid said it needed to be rung three times. Can you see anything that controls the bell?" Sora asked as he peered over the edge. Riku looked up the towering bell and then down at a collection of crates that seemed haphazardly left about.

"Why are there crates up here?" He asked aloud, Kairi followed his gaze and tilted her head.

"Behind them?" She offered and the boys looked at each other, smiling. With some teamwork and effort the crates were moved away to reveal a cracked wooden fence, a rope could be seen slightly behind one of the larger cracks.

"I'll get it!" Sora said, the Keyblade, tight in his grip. Riku snorted and yanked his sword free.

"Let me handle it." He said confidently, the boys snapped their eyes to each other with intense glares, but suddenly the fence exploded in a fireball.

Both boys, swords falling limp at their side, stared at Kairi who twirled her staff with an innocent smile.

"I don't want to be here all night, boys." she said with a nod towards the rope. Riku and Sora looked at each other and nodded.

"Together?" Riku asked and Sora grinned in replied.

The two boys grabbed hold of the rope and pulled.

 _GONG!_

Kairi noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, she pointed down in to the square below.

"Hey, the mural behind the fountain just changed!" She exclaimed in surprise and the boys rushed over to see. Kairi waved them back.

"Ring it again!" she said with excitement.

 _GONG!_

 _GONG!_

Ringing it for the second and third time, Sora and Riku joined her at the edge and watched the mural change to an image of flowers and butterflies…with a large keyhole in the middle. It glowed with a light that made staring directly at was hard, even from up on top of the gizmo shop.

Sora blinked, and his mouth dropped open

"No way, is that…?"

"I think it is." Riku replied in disbelief.

"You guys can gawk later, let's get it locked before the Heartless show up." Kairi said urgently and she rushed over to the ladder and rapidly descended.

The boys sprinted to the ladder before sliding down. They raced past the gizmo shop and down the flight of stairs, the street empty of Heartless, and toward the Keyhole.

"This feels...bad." Kairi said as she slowed in the middle of the square, Sora stopped running and looked at her.

"What's wrong Kairi?" He asked, her frown an unusual expression on her face.

"What's the hold up, guys?" Riku called from the fountain, his sword ready. Kairi shook her head and followed Sora to the fountain. They had almost reunited when a large suit of purple armor fell between them and landed with a huge clatter in front of them and assemble into a large Heartless.

Riku dropped into a stance and snarled.

"This must be the local Heartless's boss. I guess it was waiting for us to do the hard work and then swoop in and get the Keyhole. Let's put it down!" He shouted. The creature shook as its parts clanged together.

"Then let's do it!" Sora said back as he charged and leapt towards the body of the Heartless. Spotting the movement out the corner of his eye, he spun in midair, Keyblade held across his body blocking one of the Armor's punches that flew in from the side, only for a leg to fly out and knock him back.

"What the-!?" he yelled as he hit the ground and rolled away from being stomped on by another foot crashing into the ground where he was.

"It's arms and legs, they're all move independently! We need to split up and distract it!" Kairi yelled and with a flick of her staff sent a fire ball at ta hand piece soaring towards Riku. The hand was knocked aside and crashed to the ground.

"Sora, focus on the arms. We get rid of those and we can slow it down" Riku yelled as he dodged a foot slamming down on him before slashing at the offending foot with his sword. The screech of metal on metal making the Heartless tremble in fury.

"Got it!" Sora replied as he pointed his Keyblade, "Take this, Fire!" A small fireball shot from the tip of the Keyblade, exploding upon hitting the Guard Armor's other hand. As it landed messly on the stone floor, Riku dashed forward and slashed in a X pattern, the handle shot off to avoid more damage. Riku was suddenly kicked across the square as a foot flew into him.

Sora rushed forward and saw both a foot coming for him and a hand for Kairi. With a burst of speed he jumped on the purple foot and launched himself at the hand, smacking it down to the earth, his Keyblade making easy marks on the metal.

"Move, Sora!" Kairi yelled and spun her staff, Sora didn't think, he just rolled as lightning crashed down on the damaged hand, making until vanishing in a plume of smoke. Before she finished the swing of her staff she sent a cure flying at Riku's running form from the other end of her staff, green sparks washing over his determined face.

Reeling from the loss of its right hand, the Heartless fired its left at Kairi, seeking revenge, the hand shooting forward faster than before. Kairi threw herself to the side and it turned in midair to follow her. With wide eyes, Kairi threw a fireball but missed, and then Riku beat the hand to her and raised his sword to block it, grunting as he was pushed back by the force as the purple hand tried to push through his blade and him. Then it was vanquished as Sora cleaved his way through it

The Heartless fell back and the trio regrouped. Riku panted as the ache in his arms flared up.

"Now what?" He asked as the metal trembled once more.

"Alright, the hands are gone, now we can-what's it doing?" Sora asked, seeing it still and shift.

The Heartless began to change. The body flipped over and the head took it's new place on what had been the bottom of the armor with the visor clanging open. The legs then attacked themselves to the shoulders as the feet shifted in to a fist.

"Oh come on!" Riku growled, Kairi breathed heavily and Sora swiped at the air annoyed.

"This thing needs to give up already." He said with a sigh. The Heartless shot forward at them.

Falling back into their earlier strategy, the boys quickly realized that while these hands lacked claws they packed a much stronger punch. A section of concrete was completely demolished as one of the new fists smashed into it. They quickly realized that dodging was preferable to blocking.

A hand shot out to Sora who flipped over it and then looked up to see the second hand almost upon him, panicking he tried to back pedal, but he had no momentum to move. The hand shot forward.

Then it was hunk of ice that crashed to the ground, Kairi behind it, falling to one knee, her breath come much quicker now.

"Hurry, I can't keep this up." She said as she downed a vial and stood back up, wobbling slightly. Sora swung the Keyblade overhead and brought it down like a hammer.

This fist exploded in ice and shadow.

Riku, on the other side of the square, dodged and slashed at the other hand as it missed him. The second time, Riku grabbed on to the flailing fist, flying off on top of it and stabbed into the palm repeatedly, it fading as Riku furiously repeated the act.

Riku smirked as he landed, seeing the last limb was destroyed.

"Alright, let's see you sprout another pair of arms now."

The Heartless shifted again, this time turning its body horizontal, with the wider end facing forward. Seeing the end begin to glow Sora gulped.

"Uh guys? I don't think it needs arms anymore-Duck!" he yelled.

The friends scattered as a blast of energy smashed the ground they had been standing on, the earth scorched black. Within seconds the blast was charged and firing again and again, and again.

Sora rolled out of the way of another blast and gritted his teeth. _If it would just stop firing for a few seconds…  
_  
He needed help, at this rate he or his friends would be hit. With a move of desperation he reached into his pocket and pulled out a rock with a lion face painted on it. Leon had given it to him as gift.

 _"Remember, deary, if you need help then you need only call for it."_ the fairy Godmother had said, the nice woman Merlin had living with him.

"Help us..." Sora pleaded as another blast missed him by a few feet. The rocked glowed, and them his Keyblade began to shoot sparks as the stone floated over the end of the blade and suddenly the Keyblade was surrounded by a aura magic and then it directed itself towards the sky and a light flashed around them, stunning the heartless as a figure materialized before Sora.

"Who...?" Sora asked as he blinked away spots of light.

Sora's question was answered by a roar the shook the earth and staggered the Heartless. A gold and red form leapt forward and smashed the Armor into the ground. A lion twice the size of Sora tore into the Heartless, it's claws pinning it down, making the Heartless's blast shoot wildly off.

After that the battle shifted in the islanders favor once more. The Lion's speed and the ability to stun the Heartless with his roar prevented it from getting away and bombarding the team again. It didn't take long for it to finally fall as Sora slashed it directly down the center.

The purple body shook violently before it crashed to the ground, a red heart flying off to the stars, With a sigh of relief, Sora turned to the Lion.

"Thank you, we were goners without you." He said with a grin. The Lion looked about the town with an odd expression.

"I wondered where I ended up...don't worry about it, you're a good kid. Just don't forget about me. It's hard living on inside this stone." The Lion said as he began to fade. Sora gasped and rushed forward but the Lion was already gone.

"My name is Simba, I'm counting on you, Sora" Simba's voice called out from the empty space, the earth shine stone glowing warm in Sora's hand.

"I won't, I promise." He said softly to the rock. With a focused expression Sora turned to the Keyhole. He pointed his Keyblade at it, it vibrating intensely in his grip, excited. When the feeling almost over whelmed Sora, the Keyblade fired a beam of light into the Keyhole. The sound of a lock closing was heard across the district, even the town itself and then the Keyhole vanished in a flock of butterflies that vanished into the night sky.

"We did it!" Kairi cheered as she pulled Riku and Sora into a hug, a boy under each arm.

"One Keyhole down, who knows how many more to go." Riku chuckled as he pulled himself from Kairi's grip. Sora sat down heavily, the battle exhausting him, but a huge grin was on his face.

Before the group could continue celebrating, a familiar cheerful voice was heard, "Looks like you three were busy."

The group turned to see Leon and Yuffie on the path in front of the hotel. "When did you two get here?" Sora asked in surprise.

"Around the time the Heartless turned its legs into hands. Leon said we should wait and only step in if you needed it." Yuffie answered with a smile, she jumped and landed perfectly on the fountain edge.

"So this was where it was...I completely knew that of course." she declared proudly. Leon walked past and pushed her, the ninja landing with a yelp in the cold water.

"You three had it handled for the most part, especially after your friend showed up." Leon continued. "We should probably head back to the house. Tomorrow morning we're heading out." he said as Yuffie pulled herself out with a glare on her face.

"Where?" Riku asked, his face excited.

"We're going to a world that has a record of training heroes."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Come on Aerith, it'll be hilarious!"

"You are not setting up pranks in Leon and Cid's rooms, not after the last time." Aerith told her friend as they were returning from seeing Leon, Cid, and the islanders off. The last time was not to be mentioned.

"But that was a complete accident!" Yuffie pleaded as she opened the door to their base, "How was I supposed to know-Oh hey you two, we were wondering when you'd get back." she said with a wave.

Aerith walked in to see Donald and Goofy sitting at their table with tired looks on their faces, "Did anything happen?" she asked concerned

Goofy sighed, "Well, we arrived at this world called Wonderland. This Queen had been attacked by Heartless but was blaming a girl named Alice just because she could. Shortly after the Queen ordered Alice's head to be chopped off, a group of Heartless attacked."

"We jumped in to help, but the Heartless ran off with Alice. We tried to find her, but before we could the world began to break apart. We barely got back to the Gummi Ship in time." Donald continued, "If that is the kind of thing the King wants to stop, we really need to find that Key." he said bleakly, his hope low.

"Well then I have good news for you!" Yuffie exclaimed with a grin, "The Keyblade wielder showed up not long after you left after his world was consumed."

Donald jumped up, "What!? Where is he?" his tone shrill. Goofy looked around happily and then under the table.

"Gosh, I hope he's okay...where is he?" He asked, still looking for a key wielding boy under the table.

"He and his friends went with Leon and Cid to another world for some extra training. I can give you the coordinates if you want." Aerith explained.

"Let's go, Goofy!" Donald said, rushing out the room. There was silence as they all stared after him. Aerith shook her head with a smile and wrote down a set of numbers on a piece of paper and handed it to the knight.

"Good luck." she said. Goofy saluted her and Aerith giggled and curtsied in return.

"Hurry up, you big lump!" Donald called from below.

"Coming Donald!"


	4. Interlude 1

Interlude 1

New Friends

"I don't know how you do it Kairi." Sora said as he stretched, "This magic stuff is hard and you make it look so easy." He said with tone of disbelief. Kairi shrugged, a smile tugged at her lips.

"Well, Merlin said I have quite a bit of potential, I just feel inside and it just happens, and besides, it means I can keep relying on you and Riku to be the ones being beat up by the enemies while I stand back and cast magic." Kairi teased, then looked speculatively "Of course, you're still doing better than Riku. He still hasn't finished mastering Fire yet." As if to agree with her, the sound of an explosion and cursing could be heard from upstairs, where Riku was having some extra practice.

The upstairs was just a single room with a lot of open space. Merlin had made his furniture fly around, which was enough to make Sora excited on it's own, then Merlin told them to start firing magic at them.

All three of the islanders were hesitant at first.

Then the sugar bowl floated by on a table and walloped Riku right in the face. In response, the silver haired boy gave a yell and flung himself at the bowl.

Merlin politely reminded him to use magic after the first couple of furious swipes of his sword.

Sora grinned as he thought back to Riku's first attempts at casting what Merlin called one of the most basic spells a magic user can learn. Riku couldn't do fire, Riku did point blank explosions.

Left alone to their own devices, Sora and Kairi decided to do the polite thing and snoop through Merlin's house, so he wandered about with Kairi fast on his heels and began looking at the various odds and ends scattered around Merlin's house. A desk with a beat up looking book and some tools caught his eye. It was cover less and looked damaged from a lot of different things. A simple clasp kept the tattered pages inside and Sora trailed a finger over it.

"Looks like Merlin's working on a book. Wonder if it's his spell book or some magic potion guide, or something?" Sora mused. He picked the book up and some of the binding cracked a little. It felt heavy, like there was something more than pages inside.

"Why don't we just look? A quick peek wouldn't hurt. We'd heard those two coming down and we can just put it back before he notices." Kairi said as she joined him. Her eyes alight with interest.

Sora nodded and opened the book, "Whoa, this book is in even worse condition than I thought. There are even entire pages torn out." he said in surprise, a page felt out and landed softly at his feet.

"It looks like a story book, 'Hundred Acr...' something, maybe-it's glowing." Kairi blinked at the soft glow now growing stronger.

"What?" Sora barely had time to confirm that yes, the battered book was glowing when suddenly the book began to flip it pages rapidly and then stopped at a map in the middle of the book with very little on it, then began to get pulled in, "What the-?" he began and then he was falling head first into the book.

"Sora!" Kairi grabbed a hold of his collar, but only succeeded in getting herself dragged in with him.

The book fell to the ground and closed itself, the room now eerily silent.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Gah!" Sora crashed through branches of trees, heavy into spring, and grunted as he hit the ground. With a shake of his head, he blinked and started to get up…

"Sora!" was all he heard before his face impacted the ground again…as Kairi landed on top of him.

With some scrambling and yelps, the two finally got up from their tangled mess and looked around, finding themselves in a beautiful clearing with green grass and blue skies as far as they could see with a large hollow log in the center, looking quint.

On the log sat a yellow bear wearing a red shirt muttering to himself, "Think, think, think, think.". Sora and Kairi looked at each other and shrugged.

"He doesn't look dangerous." Sora suggested and Kairi nodded.

"I feel...really safe here." She added and they both walked over, looking about as they got closer.

"Where are we?" Sora asked, his arms behind his head, relaxed in the warm breeze.

"I think we're in the book, I saw this clearing with the log in the center. But how do we get out?" Kairi answered, looking puzzled as she looked straight up, as expecting to see Merlin there.

"Well, I guess we should ask that bear." Sora replied as he walked forward, "Hey there. Do you know where we are?" sounding his usual friendly self. Kairi smiled at his words.

She hoped he never changed.

The bear looked up from his thinking pose, "Oh, hello. This is the Hundred Acre Woods. And I'm Winnie the Pooh, who are you?" he said, sounding politely puzzled that two non-bears were in front of him.

"My name is Kairi, and this big lump is Sora." Kairi said with a grin and waved.

"It's nice to meet you. But if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to think of how to say goodbye to Pooh." Pooh stated and returned to his thinking pose. Kairi blinked and Sora put his hands on his hips, a confused look on his face.

"But, you're Pooh." Sora stated.

"Yes, I am."

"Then why would you say goodbye to yourself?" Kairi asked.

"Because everyone has gone away. We used to go on walks together, play Pooh sticks, and eat honey. Oh, a smackeral of honey sounds so nice. But everyone's gone now. Pigglet, Rabbit, Tigger, all of my friends and my favorite honey tree too." Pooh said before jumping down from his seat, "So maybe I'll be going away too sometime, I think. But I wonder, how do I say goodbye to myself? Think, think, think…" he trailed off and began to walk into the far off woods. His voice fading as he went further away.

Sora and Kairi watched as Pooh walked away with frowns on their faces, but before they could do anything, light surrounded them and blinded them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The two islanders blinked as they found themselves back in Merlin's house with Merlin and Riku standing in front of them. Merlin looking amused and Riku in a state of panic.

"Are you guys alright?" Riku asked franticly, he searched for signs of damage but both of them looked pretty relaxed.

"Yeah, but you won't believe this Riku! There a world inside that book!" Sora said excitedly.

"Is that so? I stumbled across that book while going through my old junk and decided to repair it. I had no idea it was a world of its own." Merlin mused, he took the book off the desk and muttered some words under his breath.

"The damage, I think it hurts the world as well. It was weird, it felt…incomplete. We also met someone, a bear named Pooh, who said his friends had disappeared. So maybe the damage to the book is what caused it?" Kairi guessed, a frown creasing her usual bright face.

"All the more reason to finish fixing it then. Now any questions before you go?" Merlin asked as he placed the book gently down on the table.

Sora nodded as he pulled out a brown rock, a lion painted on it that shined in the light, "Leon was keeping this for luck before he gave it to me. He said it was magic in some way but didn't know how. We were wondering if you knew."

Merlin's eyes narrowed, "Leon found it you say. And has been keeping it for good luck despite not knowing what it does. Excuse me, it seems I need to lecture our friend on proper care of unknown magical objects. Oh, and take it to Fairy godmother, she has a specialty when it comes to those rocks."

"Who is the Fairy Godmother?" Riku asked, eyes narrow, his cheeks covered in black soot from his...training.

The small carriage behind him began to glow and a woman appeared, dressed in a long hooded dress, she tapped her wand on Riku and he gave yelp as his entire body glowed and his face was cleaned.

"Hello, dears, you called?"


End file.
